Month: June 2013

Capitol Policeman John Cale (Channing Tatum) dreams of being on the Secret Service Detail to protect President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). John has been granted an interview at the White House along with Tour passes for him and his daughter.
Once the interview is over and John has been denied the position, he doesn’t have the heart to tell his daughter the bad news, so instead he takes her on the White House Tour. While on the tour a HUGH explosion occurs. Soon after the White is taken over by a Paramilitary group; Racing against the clock John Cale tries to save the president, his daughter and the country. The story unfolds from there…

“White House Down” is ok. I have to compare it to “Olympus Has Fallen” and I know I was critical of “Olympus Has Fallen”, but after see “White House Down”, “Olympus” was the better movie.
“White House Down” is a non-stop action extravaganza with intense violence, intense gun fire and lots of explosions. You will be entertained.

The problem with “White House Down” is the plot. It’s not really laid out. This just sort of happens. However the holes are closed and the package is wrapped up nicely and tied with a bow at the end. You must sit through 2 hours and 17 minutes to get to the truth.

Once again in a review I will refer to the 1988 blockbuster “Die Hard”. “White House Down” is “Die Hard at the White House”. John Cale (Channing Tatum) is John McClane (Bruce Willis).

“World War Z” is a combination of the September 2012 Thriller “Contagion” and the 2007 Sci-Fi Thriller “I am Legend”.

Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane a former U.N. investigator who finds himself, his family and a major part of the world embroiled in a deadly fight for survival from an unknown lethal virus that if a person is bitten they become something vicious.

The Military call’s upon Lane (Pitt) to lead a search to get at the origin of the virus. This search will take Gerry and his team to places unknown. The story unfolds from there…

The movie is edge of your seat suspense. It’s a bit grisly…I found myself closing my eyes a couple of times. The 3D aspects are pretty good because there were things coming at me and I ducked or closed my eyes.
“World War Z” is not for someone with a weak stomach. The movie is executed pretty well although not my favorite genre. If I had it to do over I probably would have skipped seeing it, but I was curious since the previews didn’t really give you much to go on.

Remember “Batman Begins”? “Man of Steel” is Christopher Nolan’s first installment of the untold story of Superman. I say untold because this movie starts at the very beginning just as Superman is about to be born.
The planet Krypton is about to be destroyed. Superman’s biological parents want to save him from a certain fate, so they ship the infant off to earth. Fast-forward about 20 years…now a grown-up Superman must confront his secret extraterrestrial heritage when people from Krypton come to earth to get him back. The story unfolds from there…
“Man of Steel” does a nice job of giving snippets of Superman growing up in rural Mid-West America. The cinematography and special effects are really good. The action at times is really intense. The story does come together nicely, although there are times that it jumps around too much and becomes a bit mundane.
You definitely want to see this in IMAX, although 3D is not required. The 3D aspects are pretty good, but not worth the extra dollars.
As I stated earlier this is a Christopher Nolan production. We can expect several more installments just like he did Batman.
If you are a Superman fan, by all means do go see “Man of Steel”.

“Now You See Me” is a sophisticated game of “Cat & Mouse” with a group of extremely good magicians, the police and the FBI.
Four top notch magicians perform never before seen tricks. Their tricks are so elaborate they involve theft of money and safes. This draws the attention of not only a former magician who seeks out magicians to expose their tricks, but the police and the FBI get involved. the story unfolds from there…
Things are definitely not what they seem and this is the “Magic” of “Now You See Me”. Move over Houdini because you have nothing on these four fresh magicians.
The movie is good and you will be entertained. The magic is very cool!! The intrigue, twists and turns will keep you on your toes. Don’t blink or you might miss something important. This is a “Must Pay Close Attention” type of movie.
The plot and reasoning is baffling at best and that’s what keeps “Now You See Me” from being a 4-5 star movie.
The paid critics say it’s “So-So”. I disagree, I think “Now You See Me” is worth a look.